


Blood and Sand

by Forever_Tank



Series: Pearlnet Bomb 2018 [2]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: AU, Being Hunted, Burns, Caravans, Comforting, Crying, Day 2, Dehydration, F/F, GREAT OUTDOORS, Garnet's not a good person, Garnet's not too mentally sound, Hot Weather, I was up since 12 am last night writing this, Jeez this is late, Long One-Shot, Minor Pearlnet, Pearl isn't either, Pearlnet Bomb, Pearlnetbomb2018, Pearlnetweek2018, Some OOC, Starvation, Threats of Rape/Non-Con, Traveling, Water, Willpower, but that isn't shown as much, sand
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-19
Updated: 2018-07-19
Packaged: 2019-06-13 05:23:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15357204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Forever_Tank/pseuds/Forever_Tank
Summary: Water is a precious commodity people will kill for. Pearl just wants to survive another day.





	Blood and Sand

**Author's Note:**

> Ah, this is late! Sorry! A huge storm knocked out the power on Tuesday and I was out with friends on Wednesday. So for this one shot this is an AU inspired by Fallout 2, Tank Girl, and a little bit of Mad Max, I had a lot of fun writing this and tbh writing it made me super thirsty hahaha.  
> My thought process behind this AU comes from the fact that its been a steady 118 degrees in my area and every moment I step outside I feel like that guy from the good the bad the ugly. Originally I started to write out a oneshot for Performance because I guessed (correctly) that everyone would go for great outdoors, but then I thought of this and decided to go with it instead. Maybe I'll post the Performance prompt as a second chapter to this later!
> 
> Day 2's prompt was Great Outdoors/ performance. I followed the first theme.

  _ **Blood and Sand**_

Sand kicked up behind booted feet, and each step sunk them lower and lower into the dunes until Pearl was knee deep in what felt like grainy lava. Her hands grasped for the branch above her head. As soon as her gloved fingers wrapped around it the wood broke away into dust and she fell face first into more sand. Her scream, however muffled, echoed across the yellow landscape.

Pearl pushed herself free, burns of varying degrees blotting across her face and neck. A step away she had dropped a light green cannister. She lunged for it, wretching the lid open and pouring powder onto her face that soothed the burns. Her relief was immediate. Clasping the lid back on, she got to her feet and started another jog across the dune, hot air pushing against her body and blowing the powder away.

She knew she was being hunted.

Several days ago, Pearl stopped at a wandering caravan, armed by several malnourished people, dressed in rags and scrap metal that had been disfigured from the heat. The handlers led two pack horses only, as the others had been slaughtered minutes before for feed, resting beside them as half eaten carcasses. The horses stood on legs so thin Pearl thought she could snap them with one good kick, and their stomachs were concaved enough that the straps of the pack bags they carried had been stuck into their skin with shivs and rocks, as otherwise the bags would have fallen right from them. Pearl approached the caravan master and quick conversations told her two of the starved individuals were for sale and the packs the horses carried contained powders and ammo. No water though, so Pearl left them in her tracks, knowing that they would die sooner than later and she could come back for the gear their souls left behind in the world.

When she returned to them, under the cover of the hot, hot night, everyone had been executed. The caravan master's head was impaled through the spine of one of the horse carcasses from earlier, his eyes already dried out in his skull, his mouth filled with flies searching for what little moisture he could have had in there. What irritated her was that the gear was gone, save for the cannister of powder that she used to soothe her burns.

Then came the suspicion, the footprints that sometimes appeared behind her own, trailing in circles, in diagonal lines, in trails like feet had been dragged through the sand. Drops of blood sizzled in the sand when Pearl broke camp, and though she checked her nose and her eyes, she never found the source of them. Another day gone and she came across a half mad man, shirtless, thin enough the wind pushed him back with each little gust. Pearl ignored him after giving him a once over for any useful supplies the soon-dead-man carried. She traveled on. The morning after when she broke her camp, the man lied down in the red sand next to her, skin already melted to muscle and the beginnings of bone. When she checked his trails, they were drag marks, with no finger indents in sight.

Pearl started to run after that.

Running spent precious energy, but her life was more precious than her energy until it wasn't. Her legs ached with a fury she never known before, her tongue like sandpaper in her mouth, and her stomach cramping from lack of food. Then she wanted to lie down and sleep, forgetting her life. That became long forgotten the moment she woke up with a bullet embedded in the sand beside her head, shot long before in the night.

Her water sloshed in the container strapped to her back, and a quick read at her regulator told her that the air around her read 134 degrees faheranheit and her body temperture was 102. Wind kicked up again, blowing sand in droves. Pearl pulled her scarf up to her nose and covered her eyes with the cracked dirty googles that rested on her head. Sand glanced scrapes across the little exposed skin she had, and cut rips into her attire that would need to be mended later on in her camp. Pearl raised a hand to her forehand, stopping the onslaught of sand from her goggles so she could see a little better. Dunes stretching miles away, air diffracting violently into waves, and the ever present sun that hung high enough in the sky that Pearl could deduce it was noon. Slinging her container over her shoulder, Pearl pulled the pipe from from its lock and took a long sip of the cold water, soothing her burned throat and rehydrating her dried tongue.

Clasping the pipe back in, Pearl fought her way against wind and deep sand, pushing for her target, so close yet so far. A trip that had taken months in preparation, and now had taken months to progress, with another few months until she could complete it. Her water would last, she told herself everynight and everyday and every second. Her water would last. She would last.

Pearl tripped.

She twisted to land on her back, and when she landed her neck hit the sand and the hairs that were growing back burst into flames. Her scream was wrestled back into her throat by her willpower. Pearl jolted up and slapped her neck down until she felt the burn of the flames go away, and for good measure she ran a hand across her shaved head to brush away any last lick. Her legs and exhaustion told her to start resting then and there, but her mind and strength told her that she needed to use the sunlight while she could and continue on, going faster than before because no doubt her tripping had given her hunter seconds to catch up. Pearl lifted herself up on shaky arms and wobbling feet, the water in her container sloshing invitingly, but she resisted its charm because she had her taste for the day. She twisted her burned neck, looking over her shoulder. Dunes and dunes, not a living soul in sight, nor a dead one. Pearl thought she was alone, but the standing hairs on her arm-the little that hadn't been burned away- told her otherwise. Her boots pressed into the sand, sinking inches in, but never getting stuck.

When night fell Pearl set up her camp, rolling out the foam mat she had strapped underneath her container. She stuffed old cloth up her nose and fixed her goggles tight against her face, and she unstrapped her water container and hugged it as she lied down. Her eyes shut, but she contiued to think, about her target, her water, and her sense of safety that was slowly dwindling into nothing. How special it was to feel safe. Maybe even more special than her life and her water.

Hot sand blew up into the air, swirling into a funnel, then settling beside her.

When Pearl opened her eyes, it was morning, and it was time to move because she heard footsteps behind her.

Sand kicked up around Pearl when she sprung to her feet, then became a cloud behind her as she ran, and she heard the pursuing clear as day because there was no noise in the morning. Instincts screamed at her to look back. She didn't listen. She listened only to the footsteps. What unnerved her was that the only breathing she heard was her own, no one else’s. Pearl clutched her water close to her. Her mat had been left behind, but she had her water and life close to her. Though the latter might be lost soon. Pearl sucked in air through her lips and hunched as she ran, giving a burst of energy that took her along the way faster, but those footsteps still had the same closeness to them. Her heart pounded in her chest, breathes coming out raggedly through her nose. The canister of powder swung back and forth, smashing into her thigh over and over again until she was sure that they were bruised. Water sloshed in the container. Inviting to anyone who heard it.

Arms wrapped around her stomach and a large weight took her to the ground. The sand hadn't yet had the chance to heat up, saving Pearl from the burning, but not saving her from the hands that clasped around her throat and yanked her into an arch that her spine screaming for forgiveness. Her cry almost left her throat, but she never screamed without reason. Her lips kept shut and she was as silent as could be.

"Got you. That was fun."

The voice was a deep rasp, one that hadn't had water in at least a day. An accent flitted between those terrifying words. Pearl struggled in the grip, but her assailant pulled harder, and she felt a pop and flaring pain that came and left quick enough to tell her that nothing snapped or broke, rather the pressure was released from a disk. A gloved hand cradled her jaw, a finger and a thumb running up her chapped lips to pluck the cloth from her nose. "Can you smell that?"

The smell of gunpowder, burn powder, and the distinct scent of sweat. But then the smell of something metallic flood her olfactory; blood. Pearl struggled again, and her assailant let her go but grabbed her calves and pulled themselves along her body until they were sitting on the small of her back. Their weight kept her down and a hand kept her face pressed into hot-but-not-burning sand. Pearl heard her water container being picked up, the sound so alarming her body began to thrash before her mind caught up.

Gulping. Then a satisfied noise, followed by the clasp of the pipe being set into the lock.

"I meant to let you walk around for a few more days, but then I got thirsty."

Without the guise of dehydration, the voice was still deep, but now Pearl could hear that it was feminine. The glove on her neck started to massage the flesh, fingers pressing in, but not hard enough to hurt. The gloved hand turned her head to the side so her face was out of the sand.

"Wh-" Pearl coughed, because her voice hadn't been used in almost a week. "Who are you?" Her own voice was rasped.

"Your guardian angel. I killed the people who talked about stealing your water: the caravan, the madman. I'd like a thanks."

"If you're going to rape me, kill me, or steal my water, then get it over with." Pearl growled through clenched teeth. She heard a chuckle that was far too smooth for someone who only had a drink of water a moment ago.

"Oh, three very tempting options, maybe I'll roll a die on that later. But not now, I need you alive and coherent for the information you'll give me."

"Information? I have none." Pearl tried to look up at her assailant from the corner of her eye, but her googles were cloudy and fogged, allowing her to see nothing but a large silhouette.

"Everyone has some. How useful it is decides whether or not they'll live long enough to tell it. If your information was useless, then I'd be doing one of those three things you listed.  But it's not, so I'm going to carry you back to your camp so I can get that mat, and then we'll be taking a nice trip. Understood?"

That hand continued to massage her neck, but the pressure was becoming painful quickly, enough that Pearl tried again and again to move her head away, but her assailant continued to do it without a care to her struggling. 

"How did you hide from me?"

Her assailant laughed again, and the weight left her back. Pearl tried to get up, but the two arms wrapped around her stomach and she was quickly flipped and thrown over a shoulder, her face smacking into the hard muscles of her assailant’s back, covered with the thin cloth of a shirt, and with growing horror Pearl realized that she didn't look one bit malnourished. Something so rare that seeing it could count as a story to tell for years on end. A hand swooped down and grabbed her water container and her assailant began to walk, bobbing Pearl up and down, jostling her head and stomach enough to make her nauseous. She never gagged once though, because that would mean losing precious water and food that she needed to live.

Mid-day came. Her regulator read 145 degrees with her body temperature reading 102. They had grabbed the mat long ago, and now she was forced to look at the growing distance between her and her target. Occasionally her gloved hand would reach forth, grasping for the horizon, and then it fisted into a ball and slammed into her assailant’s back, hard enough to thump, but only hurting enough to draw a grunt and nothing else. She did it three times, and then the fourth time the water container dropped into the sand and a fist came so hard down her back it echoed and made Pearl bite her tongue to keep from screaming, tears flooding into her eyes and running into her goggles to fog up later.

Night fell again. Pearl was flung into the sand and the water container fell beside her, as well as the mat, both drawing a quick glance from her before she looked up at her assailant and started to scoot away. It was so dark she could only see the outline of her, the night being a new moon night. With each scoot her assailant took a step, following her with a grin Pearl could only barely see, and then she sped up and planted a boot on her stomach.

"You have information, and I have all the time in the world to get it out of you."

"I have nothing." Pearl spat. A grunt escaped her as the boot dug down.

"C'mon, don't be stubborn. I really don't want to hurt a pretty face."

She looked at her with narrowed eyes and clenched teeth, not responding to the apparent compliment.

"Did you forget hitting me earlier?"

"Hit me, I hit you back. Simple. I still owe you three more, but then again I tackled you earlier and put you into a hold, so we’ll call it even, eh?" Her assailant took her boot off her and dropped down onto the sand, sending the fine-grains flying into a cloud. A hand grabbed at Pearl's ankle and pulled her along until she was close. The hand kept a firm hold.

"First off, I know who you are, so no dodging or fake aliases or any of that. Your name is Pearl, and you are from the Oasis."

Pearl gritted her teeth and said nothing.

"What you have in that container is more water than anyone could get to look at in their life, so much that it’s last you a good 3 months’ worth of traveling, and is meant to last you three more. What I and my employer want to know is where the Oasis is, and what is your mission?"

"I'll die before I'll let those secrets leave my lips."

Her attacker chuckled, and Pearl saw the outline of the grin again.

"Well, I won't kill you, so I guess we'll keep retracing our steps, eh? I've been following you for a while. I'll let you know now that while necks break easier then wills, yours will be long deteriorated by the time we retrace our steps fully. No one likes back tracking, and no one likes knowing that they are making a trip with no water to get them through the entire way." Fingers drummed against her water container. "This will be providing for two now."

"Fine, take me back to the beginning, I'm used to set backs. You'll be killing us both in the process."

"No, I won't, nothing dies until I decide it does."

Her assailant was right about almost everything she told her. That she would hit back if she was hit first, her will would deteriorate the more they moved away from her target, and that the water would provide for two now. It was only her luck that her assailant seemed to be smart enough to know that just because the water was there, doesn't mean she should drink it. Each sip was spaced between hours, and every so often her assailant would pull cooked meat or underground fruit from a satchel at her side to eat. Each time she would offer a bite, but Pearl never trusted it.

Nights were reserved for questions, but not once did Pearl give an answer. Her loyalty was to the Oasis, and would not dare break it for someone whose face she hadn't even seen. Her assailant’s frustration was evident with each failed interrogation, but never once did she take a more violent approach. She only continued with the back-tracking, the slow, patient way to making Pearl crack.

"Perhaps you'd be willing to talk if you got to know me?" Her assailant’s voice came from the cover of the night. Pearl had to squint to find her outline.

"I don't want to know who you are. All I know is that you are my kidnapper and that's all I need to know." Pearl said. A chuckle was her response, and the fingers wrapped around her wrists gave a light squeeze.

"Garnet. That's my name, remember it. I'll remember yours."

"Who's your employer?" Pearl asked with narrowing eyes. If she is willing to give information, then Pearl would take it and she would let the Oasis know after her mission was complete.

"Ah, I see what you are doing. I said that you'll get to know me, not my employer. What do you want to know about _me_?"

"Are you going to kill me once I talk?"

Garnet whistled. "Maybe. Maybe not. I like you, you have a drive that women I know lack, so probably not."

Then anymore questions were refused and Pearl fell asleep in the lap of Garnet, not realizing she did so until morning came and she was jostled by her getting up. Not a second later Pearl was flung over a strong shoulder and the water container was picked up.

"C'mon, still got a distance to go."

Garnet force fed her another three days into their trip, because Pearl hadn't eaten since she was captured and her fainting became more frequent with each hour. Garnet used the underground fruit, a fruit so dense and packed with nutrients that Pearl threw up after the first bite, before the rest was fed to her and Garnet kept a hand over her mouth to keep her from spewing out anymore. By the end of it her throat burned with acid reflux and never eating again was a nice thought to have. Garnet fed her water through the pipe to temper the reflux, and then took her own drink that made Pearl flinch, knowing that her water was being taken.

A sandstorm kicked up around them, blowing the fine-grain into almost microscopic daggers that cut their clothes and skin. Garnet's body kept Pearl covered, but sometimes the sandstorm would change directions and she would bear the full onslaught of it. By the end of the day, her face was red with blood, and her clothes were tatters on her body. Garnet set her down onto cooling sand and sat on her knees, reaching for Pearl's canister of powder, unscrewing the lid and pouring it onto her face to sit. The burn powder did nothing for the pain, but at the least she could feel it start to slow the bleeding down. A grunt left her lips as she felt Garnet rummage through her satchel, pulling her sewing kit free from the inner pockets.

Hours passed as her clothes were mended, and Pearl didn't allow her eyes to close once, watching the outline of Garnet the entire time to be sure that those needles wouldn't be used to harm her. When the deed was finished, the sewing kit was packed again and set back into Pearl's satchel. Garnet lifted her and set her down on the foam mat, taking the space by her side and wrapping her arms around her in a way that was trapping, not comforting.

"Let's talk water. Your container is full of it, and your place of home sits right next to it."

"Shut up."

"Okay, then let's talk about your mission, the target we are oh-so-far away from."

"There is no mission."

"There is, the Oasis sent you, my employer knows that. I was sent for the detail work. See, I told you my mission, why not return the favor?"

A gloved hand caressed Pearl's jaw, slowly working her head to the side so she could look at Garnet's outline. Pearl sucked in the breath at the clear sight of a pale blue eye.

"I asked for no favors."

Garnet tsked. Her jaw was released, but Pearl didn't move her head, still staring into the eye.

"Good Pearl, you really won't tell your secrets?"

  "Never."

Garnet let out an unsatisfied hum.

"Then sleep and we'll keep walking until I say we die."

And they walked. And walked. And walked. And the sloshing of the water container became less and less as it depleted, Garnet never seemed concerned with it though, but to Pearl the noise was maddening and made her struggle against her iron grip. One of those nights, Garnet drank from the pipe, and the mere sight of it made her sob hard enough that Garnet held and shushed her for hours, running a hand up and down her back and saying how it could be avoided. And that very night, her secrets almost spilled, but Pearl remembered her mission and its stakes and she kept her lips sealed. But she knew her will was breaking, and with that realization she couldn't help but hold Garnet back.

Pearl's upper body swayed back and forth as she was carried away from her destination; so far at this point that getting there was an impossible feat. Her steel grey eyes, once honed and fiery, stared on dull and extinguished.

"You're going to leave me to die, aren't you?"

"Nothing dies until I say it does." Garnet repeated, as she always did when the topic of dying came up.

"No one has that power."

"I do."

Pearl could feel the grin in her voice.

They made camp later on, and instead of holding her close Garnet let Pearl free, but kept her water wrapped in her arms, knowing that she wouldn't dare run away without it.

"Just two little secrets can set you free."

Pearl held expressionless, "What's the point now? You've killed me."

Garnet laughed, her outline's shoulders moving up and down. "Oh, you are very right. What is the point? You think you're dead at this point, so what is the point of keeping your secrets? I don't see one."

"I'll carry them to my grave." Pearl put it bluntly enough that she could see Garnet's outline blink in disbelief.

"You would?" She said. Pearl nodded. "Tch, guess we'll keep walking then."

Her water ran out a week later.

And her body's water would run out soon too, because she couldn't stop crying, knowing that she had been doomed, knowing that Garnet was the one that doomed her and that she didn't seem to care about it. She had tried to take a drink, but nothing but a drop came out, and when that drop fell onto the sand and sizzled away, Garnet shrugged and said 'oh well', dropping the container onto the sand to leave it behind, only to return to it seconds later because Pearl started to scream. Her sobbing became so violent that she started to heave, her body wanting to get rid of the food and water she had in her system, and eventually Garnet had to stop and roll out the foam mat so she could sit down and hold and shush her, telling that her crying was unnecessary and that her secrets would bring them to water.

"We're too far! We're too far! We'll never get there!" Pearl cried into her shoulder.

"Oh, you don't know that. We've made some good progress; we're almost at where I first started to follow you." But Garnet's words didn't calm her; it made her cry harder. Gloved fingers stroked over her shaved head, a thumb rubbing along soft skin that connected her ear to the side of her head. Pearl calmed down eventually, hiccupping and sniffling, but no longer sobbing. Tears continued to run down her cheeks, soaking into Garnet's shirt on the way down.

"C'mon, just two little secrets are all I need to know, and then we can make our way to water."

And oh, how tempting that offer was, so tempting her lips almost worked against her to release her secrets, but Pearl held onto them, keeping herself silent.

"You'll hear them, and you'll kill me."

"I won't kill you, good Pearl; I'll just make sure you get to safety while I return to my employer."

"What about that die you said you'd roll?" Pearl narrowed her eyes and tried to raise her head to finally look at Garnet, but the hand on her head pressed down and kept her from doing so.

"Hm, I rolled it long ago. It landed on steal your water, and that's really just what I did, eh? I drank from your own water and I depleted it to nothing but a memory." Garnet almost sang. "But if it landed on the other two, then trust me when I say I wouldn't have done either of those things. Nothing dies until I say it does and if I wanted pussy, I'd get it at a brothel." That hand continued to stroke along Pearl's head. "Now, be a good little bird and sing for me. Where is the Oasis and what is your mission?"

Pearl shook her head and kept her lips closed. She felt the hand grip her head tighter.

"You have the will and drive most people can only dream of. I admire that." Garnet wrapped her arms around Pearl's body and hefted her over her shoulder, standing up, grabbing the foam mat and strapping it to her, then lifting the water container up from the sinking hole it left in the sand. "We'll keep going then."

"Wait, we will?" Pearl was in disbelief. They had no more water!

"Oh, we will, unless you want to give me your secrets?"

And that offer was tempting once more. It became more tempting each time it was uttered. Pearl bit the inside of her cheek.

"Who is your employer?" She managed to get out.

"Ah, not for me to tell." Garnet replied causally. She patted Pearl's back. "Good try."

"The Oasis-" Pearl started, and then stopped. Garnet stiffened, waiting for the continuation of the answer. "The Oasis is a 125 miles east of The Red Town and its entrance is marked by two standing rocks ten feet in height." Pearl gritted her teeth. "My mission-" She hesitated "Is my own. I wasn't sent by the Oasis for it."

"Ah, there we go. Was that so har- don't answer that, it's obvious that it was hard because otherwise, you would have given up a long time ago." Garnet dropped Pearl onto the sand without warning. An 'oof' escaped her lips as she landed, and the sand started to burn into the cloth of her pants. But Pearl didn't move, because her legs felt like they wouldn't work even if she tried.

"You are free to go now if you'd like, good Pearl. Unless-" There was a pause for a while. "You'd like to come with me?"

Pearl's eyes widened at the offer, and she lifted her head, at last looking at who had kidnapped her and reversed almost a month of progress. Black curls bellowed out in an afro that looked almost squarish in shape, and a pale blue eye and a deep brown one stood out from a deeply scarred, umber face. Her full lips were quirked in a smile, and when Pearl took her eyes down to her neck and body, she saw a gloved hand sticking out towards her in waiting.

Pearl looked back up at her.

Then she looked at the sand dunes stretching miles and miles away, with a single dead tree in the very end of the distance her eyes could see.

Pearl looked back at Garnet.

She grasped her hand.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
